Strait With No Equal Has New Danger

Turks Worry Oil Pipeline Carries Risk To Bosporus

April 06, 2001|By Catherine Collins, Special to the Tribune.

ISTANBUL — A supertanker doesn't come with brakes. Using engines alone, it takes a loaded supertanker 8 miles to stop.

The Bosporus twists and turns for 18 miles, requiring a captain or pilot to navigate a dozen course changes, some as sharp as 90 degrees. This ancient geological fault is one of the busiest straits in the world, boasting frequent variations in width, depth and current.

But most significantly, the Bosporus is the only strait that slices through a city of 12 million people. If something were to go wrong, the effect on Istanbul would be enormous.

That's why Turkish maritime officials are worried. Russian and Kazak officials last week opened an oil pipeline from the giant Tengiz field to the Russian port of Novorossisk on the Black Sea. When the pipeline becomes fully functional this summer, the first tankers carrying Tengiz oil will begin the trip down the Bosporus.

American and Turkish government officials estimate the pipeline traffic will double the number of tankers on the strait within 10 years, increasing the chances of a catastrophic accident.

Worst-case scenario

Portraying a worst-case scenario, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that if a tanker carrying 50,000 tons of liquid petroleum gas were to collide with another ship, the resulting explosion and fire could engulf an area 12 miles in diameter.

In 1936, when the current laws governing the strait were written, 4,500 ships traveled its length each year. Today, 50,000 commercial ships pass through the Bosporus annually--5,500 of them oil tankers.

Each of these ships, some as long as three football fields, must thread its way among the heavy local traffic, which is not included in the overall figures. On average, 2,500 commuter ferries traverse the strait each working day. Other traffic includes fishing and pleasure boats.

"Piloting one of these big boats is like skating on ice," said Capt. Cahit Istikbal of the Turkish Maritime Pilots' Association.

"You don't have precise control of these vessels," he said from the bridge of the 300-yard-long oil tanker Stemnitsa, capable of carrying 150,000 tons of oil. "As a captain or pilot, you are restricted by the ability of the vessel. If its maneuverability is not good, well then, you have to be that much more careful.

"There is no other strait like this in the world," Istikbal said.

It was a late spring morning, with mackerel-colored skies made indistinguishable from the water by an unrelenting rain, when Istikbal boarded the Stemnitsa to sail from Piraeus, Greece, to Novorossisk.

Office building on water

The view from inside the ship's bridge was like standing at the window of a midsize office building. Far below, the dozens of commuter ferries and fishing boats crisscrossing the path of the huge ship seemed insignificant. Sometimes these boats even seemed to play a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with the larger ones.

"You never know what the fishing boats will do," Istikbal said. "It is hard to understand their philosophy of life. Sometimes they race across your path, relying only on their engines to keep them safe. They don't seem to realize that if their engines stop, stranding them in our path, we cannot stop."

But after entering the Bosporus there were no other tankers or cargo ships in sight this particular morning because a ship in excess of 275 yards in length requires closing the strait to oncoming traffic until it reaches the Black Sea. These supertankers are simply too large to be expected to stay in a navigational lane.

Under international maritime law, all ships must have "free and unhampered access" to the Bosporus in times of peace. But the 1936 Montreux treaty has allowed Turkish authorities to impose some restrictions, and in 1994 Turkey began requiring individual traffic lanes and spacing restrictions for larger ships. In addition, ships must call in advance to disclose their size and cargo, and estimate their arrival time to allow for traffic planning.

But authorities were not allowed to impose other rules they favor, such as requiring a local pilot aboard or tugboat escorts for large ships and those carrying hazardous material. They note that six out of 10 ships refuse to use a local pilot to guide them up or down the Bosporus, which links the Black and Mediterranean Seas.

New monitor system

Within the next year, Turkish maritime officials hope to have a $20 million Vessel Traffic Management Information System up and running. It will include radar coverage to monitor the entire strait.

"We can reduce the risks and improve safety, but we can never make this failsafe," said Gunduz Aybay, a veteran maritime attorney.

From 1990 until mid-1994, there were an average of 39 shipping accidents a year on the Bosporus. Since the safety regulations were imposed, the number has been reduced to three a year, according to a Turkish government study.

Despite the improvement, the Bosporus remains one of the world's most dangerous passageways.

Oil giant British Petroleum found in a report that six accidents per million transit miles occurred on the Bosporus--double the rate on the Suez Canal and 30 times higher than on the Mississippi River.

These statistics, the study says, "show us how relatively more dangerous the Bosporus is and they show us what is possible if certain safety measures are adopted."